Marketing for Mobile Apps #AMDays

Editor’s Note: This is another installment of live coverage from the Affiliate Management Days conference. This is the 6th article in the series and this one covers marketing for mobile apps. These articles are on topics of interest to businesses that offer affiliate programs. More coverage of #AMDays.

Below is a live blogging recap of the session “Marketing for Mobile Apps” featuring coverage from the session with speaker Peter Hamilton (pictured left), CMO of HasOffers.

Why is mobile important? And why should you know the impact that marketing your brand with the help of your affiliates is important?

Peter Hamilton, CMO of HasOffers, not only has answers, but has experience to share. He let us know that 2011 has been the year of mobile explosion. In 2011, there were more cell phones than people on the planet and smart phones outpaced feature phones. What does that mean? More people are carrying devices capable of managing your brand application than ever – and the future is only going to be better.

Peter provided an interesting statistic that people download more than 65 apps to their phone and that the average time they spend on it can reach four and a half minutes! Compared to most time on a site, that is precious brand engagement time.

How was all that time leverage in the marketing realm? With over 1.4 billion in 2011 spent on mobile advertising. Why so much? Because mobile saw statistics like this: clicks up 711%, Requests up 698%, Revenues up 522%. These are all huge increases driven by mobile interaction.

Mobile Web vs. Mobile Apps

We all know that our sites are already available on mobile web, some of us even have mobile web optimized sites, so what is so appealing about an application? For starters, users prefer the usage and organization apps over mobile web. They also create an opportunity for customers to interact (aka “waste some time”) directly with your brand offline.

There is no shortage of mobile apps on the market. Sure, they started as video games like Angry birds, Farmville and the like, but strong brands are now on the market as well. With the likes of The Washington Post, Wal-Mart, Target, eBay, Facebook, CNN, Marvel, Electronic Arts, and Sony who have brought the mainstream into play. These brands not only get interaction with their customer based on static content, but can – through the phones interactive features – involve them in tactile interaction as well, creating a whole new realm of possibilities. But what does that increase? How about conversion rates. How about more accurate segmentation and targeted marketing? Users can be advertised to based on their exact location, based on GPS connectivity with the device.

Mobile apps are a lead gen capture tool that are more powerful than you may initially give credit for. They allow you to push notifications via the app, inform customers of geo specials, and get valuable interaction data. To be very clear though, all of the information that you need to gather needs to be clearly spelled out in your applications terms of service agreement.

Now where you would have gotten a lead, you get an app install. Where you get an email you get a phone number. Where you had a sale on site you get an in-app purchase, and where you used to do an email blast you can do real-time notifications. All of these abilities have great payouts. High conversion rates, seamless branding experience, higher lead lifetime value, higher average order values, longer customer life.

If you’re still curious if this is going to help you. Check out your Google analytics and see how much traffic is coming from mobile – now compare that to last year.

Ok, so an app is worth it. How do I get my app noticed? And after it is noticed, how do I track what engagements are out there? That’s where MobileAppTracking.com comes into play. After you have an app created and loaded into the Apple and Android markets, this service (costing a tiny .05 to .01 per install single fee) can now allow you to use your existing affiliate base as promoters for your new app.

Instantly this connects you to the core of your market and incentivizes your affiliates to help you acquire accounts and app downloads well beyond regular channel abilities.

The Key to the whole app though, is being able to leverage the information that they provide with a proper tracking soft ware. With the FTC privacy concerns, and new legislation that is headed for the capital later this year you need to operate with someone that is already ahead of the game and in compliance with possible regulation. Mobile app tracking has that and an incredible ability to help you target your desired audience with laser precision.

Mobile and tablets are moving and will be set to soon out pace desktop computers. It isn’t so much a matter of if anymore – but when. Sure HTML 5 is coming and it looks good, but the console experience you get from a mobile device is something a 21 inch monitor just can’t provide. Especially if you are looking at securing the future of your brand in and connecting with a younger, more tech savvy market.

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